Bodyguard
by Alantie Mistaniu
Summary: Aerith's thoughts after she is taken by Shinra, wondering if Cloud will come to rescue her. Done for the Clerith Week Challenge on tumblr.


AN: So I live. I'm horribly out of practice, and this was a quickly written piece without any eyes on it but my own, but it was fun to do all the same. Done for tumblr's Clerith week challenge, for the theme One Scene.

**Bodyguard**

When the Tsung had captured her, she shouldn't have thought that anyone would come to rescue her, especially not the spikey haired blond she'd just met. After all, who was she to Cloud Strife? Some girl he only knew a few days, a girl who was now locked up in the epicenter of Shinra's stronghold. Why would he bother to come for her? Why should he risk his life for hers? Sure they'd had a bargain and he'd agreed to protect her, but how seriously could she expect him to hold to that promise with nothing more to be expected as payment except for a date?

But somehow, even sitting alone in the quiet of the lab with her knees drawn up to her chest, ignoring the scientists peering in at her through the clear walls of her cell, she couldn't bring herself to believe that Cloud wouldn't come for her. There had been a connection between them from the moment they'd first met. She had felt a quiver in the air, a shiver as if fate's wings had brushed against her cheek that had tugged her attention to the blond soldier walking through the chaotic streets. It was as if something in her world shifted in that moment, as if the center of her universe were now being drawn to orbit around something else. She'd found herself irresistibly drawn toward him, and when he'd taken the flower from her fingers, there had been a jolt of warmth that flooded her heart.

They'd walked away from each other then, but he'd come crashing into her world yet again when he'd fallen through the roof of her church in the slums only a short time later. As she'd worriedly examined the unconscious man lying amongst the flowers, she'd felt it again, that soft but undeniable brush of fate, something that had only crystallized within her when his bright blue eyes had fluttered open and met hers.

Maybe most people would wave away such a thing as fanciable imagining, would scoff at the notion of destiny. But Aerith had learned long ago not to dismiss her instincts or feelings. Something had brought them together twice already, the same something that had nudged them together on that street only days before. They had been brought together for a reason, and though she wasn't sure what that reason was, she knew that she was bound up with Cloud's future and he with hers.

He had been strangely endearing, awkward and withdrawn, but with a genuine hint of warmth behind it all that had captured her. Despite what she thought he wanted others to believe, there was a gentle kindness in his actions that only made her all the more certain that he would come find her. Not only because he had promised, but because he cared.

And so Aerith waited, closing her eyes against the cold sterile environment around her. Shutting out the prying eyes of Hojo behind his gleaming glasses, and the quiet mutters of the men in suits, listening instead to the soft whispering voice of the Planet. She had to trust in what her heart told her, had to trust that what she had felt wasn't wrong.

Her patience was rewarded when a loud commotion outside her prison broke through her meditation, her green eyes flying open to the sight of Cloud running across the laboratory room. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as he came toward her, feeling yet again that unmistakable pull as he drew nearer.

He'd come for her. Never mind that their escape was thwarted and they were all taken into custody by the Turks. Despite all the odds, despite all logic that said she could not expect help from anyone, Cloud had come for her, Barret and Tifa in tow. The realization had unfolded like a flower in her chest, slowly unfurling into something bright and lovely and hopeful.

Despite the dire circumstances, she no longer felt as afraid, knowing that Cloud and the others were there with her. The sound of Cloud's voice from the next cell over drew her attention, and she smiled at his worry for her as she spoke.

"I knew Cloud would come for me," she said softly.

Through the wall he paused, and she could almost see in her mind's eye the faint blush that she imagined would spread across his cheeks like a sunrise. "Hey, I'm your bodyguard, right?"

Her smile widened, and the thrumming tug of fate vibrated like a string that had been plucked between the two of them.


End file.
